Twisted Sister to Appear on Fox and Friends This Friday! @MikePortnoy

On By Bryan MoreyIn progressive rock1 Comment

Twisted Sister, including Mike Portnoy, will appear on this upcoming Friday’s (September 2, 2016) episode of Fox and Friends, on the Fox News Channel. It is great to see Twisted Sister, the greatest glam metal band of the 80s, getting some mainstream attention as they celebrate their 40th anniversary.

For those that don’t know, Mike Portnoy has been Twisted Sister’s full time drummer since the death of A. J. Pero in the spring of 2015. It will definitely be great to see everyone’s favorite (or second favorite if we are including retired Rush drummers) prog drummer on national tv! That doesn’t happen everyday, although it should.

Set your DVRs! Even those of you that hate Fox.

http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/fox-and-friends/all-american-summer-concert-series

Freakishly Huge Sale at RADIANT

On By bradbirzerIn progressive rockLeave a comment

STARTING NOW: Radiant’s Pre-Labor Day 3-Day Sale through Wednesday, 8/31!

 

BIG savings on:

Transatlantic – Kaleidoscope

Neal Morse – Songs from November

Neal Morse – Momentum

Neal Morse – LIVE Momentum

Transatlantic – Whirld Tour 2010

Transatlantic – More Never is Enough

Spock’s Beard – Don’t Try This at Home

Order within the next three days for your chance to win a surprise gift! 

(Recipients of surprise gifts will be chosen at random. If you are picked, the gift will be included with your order.)

PLUS: All orders over $60 receive a 15% discount! 

(Discount automatically deducted at checkout – no code required.)

https://www.radiantrecords.com/default.aspx

Backstage with Iris! Interview with Darrel Treece-Birch! — Grendel HeadQuarters

On By IrisIn progressive rockLeave a comment

The fifth episode of Backstage with Iris! Interview with Darrel Treece-Birch!! Darrel is the keyboardist of the bands Nth Ascension and Ten, but released his solo album named No More Time this month. Iris and Darrel talk about his solo album, how he joined the bands Ten & Nth Ascension, and more! A long, interesting, and also […]

via Backstage with Iris! Interview with Darrel Treece-Birch! — Grendel HeadQuarters

It’s a Far Cry: The Genius of Rush, Snakes, and Arrows

On By bradbirzerIn progressive rock3 Comments
snakes-and-arrows-cover-4
Snakes and Arrows, 2007.

Snakes and Arrows, Rush’s 18th studio album, came out on May 1, 2007.  It was the last Rush album to be distributed by Atlantic, but the first to be produced by Nick Raskulinecz.  Snake and Arrows was profoundly progressive, but it was also one of Rush’s blues-iest album, almost certainly influenced by their EP, Feedback, a 30th anniversary tribute to the bands the three members loved in the 1960s.  And yet, even the blues on the album is mischievous, an inversion or twisting of blues, propelling the flow into more classical progressive directions.

The album also sees the return of Peart, the cultural critic and observer.  The first track, “Far Cry,” begins with the harrowing “Pariah dogs and wandering madmen,” a commentary about the evil in society and those who would sell their own souls and become evil to destroy the other evil.  Each, tellingly, is a fundamentalist, “speaking in tongues.”  The track begins, musically, with a psychedelic blues feel.  This was not the world we thought we would inherit, Peart laments.

It’s a far cry from the world we thought we’d inherit

It’s a far cry from the way we thought we’d share it

You can almost feel the current flowing

You can almost see the circuits blowing

Even when we feel we might actually make something right, the world spins and we find ourselves rolled over.

Continue reading “It’s a Far Cry: The Genius of Rush, Snakes, and Arrows” →

What Lies Beneath – Bad Elephant Special part 2, an interview with Mike Kershaw.

On By James R TurnerIn Prog, progressive rock, progressive rock music2 Comments

Hello Progarchists, welcome back to the second part of my look at the current releases from our friends over at the naughty pachyderm, today I have a review and an interview with Mike Kershaw.

Self taught singer songwriter Mike Kershaw has been working solo for several years now putting out releases that have got better and better, and more acclaim with each release, and his latest album What Lies Beneath (the follow up to 2014s critically acclaimed Ice Age) is Mikes first full length album since signing to Bad Elephant, and Mike was kind enough to chat to me about the album, before we hear from the man himself, lets see what I thought of What Lies Beneath.

Mike Kershaw4

This is the second release that Mike has made using guest musicians, and like the previous EP (Departure) signposts a new direction of Mikes working, instead of being fully solo, he has opened the doors and invited in a list of talented musical collaborators and label mates, including the inimitable Tom Slatter, who adds his unique sound to Wounds, whilst Leopold Blu-Sky of Unto Us adds his bass,guitars,keys and drum programming to the mix as well as producing the record, Gareth Cole plays guitar on the album whilst Fractal Mirrors Frank L Urbaniak drums on a few tracks and Leo Koperdraat co-wrote and guests on Two Eyes.

Continue reading “What Lies Beneath – Bad Elephant Special part 2, an interview with Mike Kershaw.” →

soundstreamsunday: “I’ve Been Walking (part 2)” by Gazpacho

On By Craig BreadenIn progressive rock3 Comments

gazpachodemonIn 2014, Gazpacho’s Demon  was to progressive rock what, in that same year, Hozier was to pop and Sturgill Simpson was to country — voices that raised the bar, made others take notice and take stock.  Demon was Gazpacho’s eighth album, and many would argue they’d been producing classic, 5-star records since 2007’s Night.  This is true, but the organic, earthy power in Demon marked a new high.  Possessed of one of the most articulate, disciplined songwriting teams I can think of, Gazpacho’s fantasies are psychological, unsettling, symbolic, while their musical fire is in the restraint of their performances and a deep melodic sensibility that is immediately recognizable.  There are no baroque runs here, or an interest in shredding.  Everything is in service to the song.  I never get the sense Gazpacho is attempting to make PROGRESSIVE ROCK; they’re just trying to create the coolest music they can think of, and to share it with sympathetic audiences, much as prog’s first generation did.  And so Demon for me reads more like a folk opera, like Procol Harum’s A Salty Dog or Jethro Tull’s Aqualung, and like those records too the production is simple, naturally spacious, working dynamics as if all the instruments were acoustic and the songs traditional, even when the electrically crashing guitar/organ power chords could be straight outta Deep Purple.  In “I’ve Been Walking (part 2)” the best of Gazpacho is on view: Jan Henrik Ohme’s voice floats as a second melodic center over Thomas Alexander Andersen’s piano, and as the first part of the song blossoms with the added rhythm and violin, the texture and mix of the instruments convey the message as much as the lyrics.  There is a reflective reprise of the first track of the album before a segue into one of the more beautifully heavy, baffling songs I’ve heard this side of Fragile-era Jon Anderson, building its arpeggios into mellotrons and a stormfront of guitars. And then it’s over, and even at 12-plus minutes, this song ends too soon.

Gazpacho website

soundstreamsunday playlist and archive

*Above image is a detail from the liner notes to Demon, designed by Antonio Seijas.

VALKYRIE: A Supreme Achievement

On By bradbirzerIn progressive rock3 Comments

VALKYRIE is an astounding achievement by any measure.  It’s not only the best album of 2016, but it’s one of the best albums of the rock era, a relentless drive toward poetic and tonal excellence.  Glass Hammer is a band that never stops challenging itself, and it never fails to succeed.

13627031_10154501829334674_3511987194964725946_n
Susie Bogdanowicz, the Best Voice in Rock.

This is, by far, Glass Hammer’s best album.  Amazingly so!  In fact, it’s the perfect, but more intense, sibling of LEX REX, INCONSOLABLE SECRET, and PERILOUS.

Continue reading “VALKYRIE: A Supreme Achievement” →

Jon Anderson’s Instructions to His Dog Sitter on National Dog Day

On By Bryan MoreyIn progressive rockLeave a comment

I have no idea if Jon actually wrote this, but it is pretty funny.

https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/yes-frontman-jon-andersons-instructions-to-his-dogsitter

Dear Frank,

Overture—Heart of Sunrise

Total Breakfast: Alpo-calypse

ii. Comb of Life

iii. The Solid Bowel Movement

Bridge—A Venture (Outside With Leash)

Fetch/Play Dead

a. Fetch

b. Play dead

ii. Long Distance Runaround (seg. into The Calling)

iii. Starship Pooper (use grocery bags!)

Requiem—Edge of the Sun

The Revealing Science of Dog (food)

ii. Sweet Dreams

Da Capo

Progressively,
Jon

Personal Playlist by Iris (26 August 2016) — Grendel HeadQuarters

On By IrisIn progressive rockLeave a comment

My latest playlist was next month, so it’s time for a new one! This playlist also contains some FREE music downloads, yippehyayeeeh! Here are some albums I’m listening to lately…(go click on the link below to see all the albums!)

via Personal Playlist by Iris (26 August 2016) — Grendel HeadQuarters

Review: Utopian Trap – The Human Price

On By NickIn progressive rockLeave a comment

The Human Price

Developing a progressive metal sound that is modern and experimental, Utopian Trap attain rarified stylistic differentiation on their sophomore album The Human Price. This quintet from San Jose started in 2005, slowly improving through over years to work their way up to a proper full-length — 2010’s Fiction Fades into Reality. The time passed by, and the band introduced a new vocalist Eric Boles, with whom they recorded and released their second studio full-length in July. There’s a hypnotic sense to a lot of the tempo shifts and riff segments – often switching moods up at the drop of a hat from tranquility to jackhammer cyber-fused heaviness, which along with the vocal employment gives Utopian Trap many colors and shades of arrangement exploration.

Two guitarists, Chandra Garud and Vinod Bhat, allow the band to tackle counterpoint elements while still giving an abundance of harmonic and melodic moments, occasionally shredding even in the keyboard department for the opening, almost 10-minute monster “The Human Price.” Fates Warning and Threshold come into the picture as prog metal riffs and melody are a focal point in many tracks, yet there’s also a bit of natural musicianship and dynamic contrast to the more streamlined “Atephobic.” You’ll find yourself humming along to many riffs or melody lines, and that’s a good thing in a genre that can sometimes be too technically sharp while forgetting to create a retainable, memorable song.

Boles handles the microphone duties in an excellent way; he is comfortable both in lower Russell Allen-registers and then anything piercing Tate high. Guitar solos punctuate instrumental sections, offering dramatic tension throughout The Human Price. The album features a boatload of drop on a dime tempo changes to highlight bassist Farhan Mohamed and drummer Roil Taggarsi as a fierce, schooled rhythm section.

Overall, The Human Price contains seven songs of stimulating song craft. Utopian Trap will gain converts, feeding social media buzz and aligning community attraction by the day.

Buy the album from Bandcamp.